In this workshop we explore three quite different poems that capture a feeling of joy, of hopes for the future, or a sense of the world being full of wonder and possibilities, regardless of our circumstances.
It is quite a challenge to presume what every reader might experience as joyful, and for various reasons, including not everyone having a religious faith, or perhaps not wanting to think that time is short, we considered discussing these two wonderful poems, but didn’t in the end. You might well enjoy them though!
William Wordsworth, ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ (1798)
Mary Oliver, ‘The Summer Day’ (1990)
In the workshop we discussed these texts:
Sammy Loehnis (A top 15 winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2018), ‘Talking to My Car’
Sarah Howe, ‘Relativity’ (2015, for Stephen Hawking)
You can also hear Stephen Hawking’s recording of the poem here
Naomi Shihab Nye, ‘Yellow Glove’ (1995)
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